Art in America - September 2016 Issue

Han Bing Exhibition August - November 2016

Han Bing’s photography series: Urban Amber looks to visualize the drama of China’s transformations as the nation is caught up in what he calls the “theatre of modernization.”

The fact that these photos are single exposures is surprising at first glance, because of their digitized look, which today tends to indicate the use of digital editing. Bing's shots are taken from reflections in toxic waters and cesspools, but offer a subtle beauty and serenity in their juxtapositions of material and metaphysical forms. Intentional distortions of direction and form are commentary on photography's own identity in the digital era. Urban Amber highlights the detritus of a society fixated on industrialization, not stopping to look at its own morphing reflection.